Chapter 35- Worlds Apart
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.
Thanks to:
Drake Clawfang (Joben is dead); GnomeInuyasha; MoonlightHanyou; Akida411searcher; NekoReiBaka (Sorry about your 'groundation'. Thanks so much for all of your help.); Venemous Angel 75 (I know…bad grammar bothers me too.); Darkened Soul1 (I did that? LOL…sorry. Glad you're enjoying it); brigurl (I just like the quote, nothing against Bush at all—I'm republican.); Heaven wouldn't have….; Sekki (…); fruitpunch676;moonlitephox
I love you all!
Before I continue with the fic, I think I should make one thing clear: It's just a story—my story, and I'll do what I want to with it. Changing the past is a huge part of the plot. If you don't like or agree with the plot, then stop reading this fanfic. It's as simple as that. But for the record, this is a story about youkai, hanyou, and a girl that is capable of leaping 500 years into the past—credibility shouldn't really be a factor here.
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder, and what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? And what dread feet?
--The Tyger by William Blake
"Oh, just wait 'till I get my hands on him," Kagome growled, unleashing Daphne before she stomped up the shrine steps and strode purposefully toward the house.
Her grandfather was losing it in his old age, she decided. Sure, her mother had finally managed to convince him to stopping leaving at all hours of the night and to get rid of his revealing leather clothes, but there were some things he wasn't willing to give up. For example, his mo-ped still resided in the storage building although he refused to ride it.
She jerked the door open and irritably slipped her shoes off. "Gramps! Where are you?" The rush of warmth greeted her, making her realize, for the first time, how cold she really was.
"Kagome, dear, what's the matter?" Mai stood in the kitchen doorway drying her hands with a dishtowel.
The miko hurriedly shut the door behind her with a small huff, shrugging her jacket off and carefully hanging it on a hook. "Did you know that Gramps told everyone I missed school the other day because I was blind?"
Mai's eyes widened in surprise, and her hand flew to her mouth. It was a moment before she dared to lower her hand and pressed her lips into a thin, white line as she tried not to laugh, which only served to fuel her daughter's irritation. "Oh dear."
"It's not funny, Mama! Everyone thinks I'm blind! How am I supposed to explain this?"
Her mother's soft laughter filled the room as she wrapped her daughter in a hug. "We'll figure something out. Oh dear! You're freezing!" She picked up the wool throw and draped in gently around Kagome's shivering figure. "Now come to the kitchen with me. I saw that you didn't eat a bite of your breakfast this morning, so I made your favorite: Oden. And it's hot too; it should warm you right up."
With a soft sigh she let all of the annoyance flow out of her and smiled. "Thanks, Mama." She placed a kiss on her cheek and followed her into the kitchen. "I'm still going to hurt Gramps though."
"I know, dear."
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Carefully stirring the pot, Mai cast a glance at her daughter, who was sitting at the table with Daphne resting at her feet. "Do you want to decorate a Christmas tree this year? If so, we'd better get moving. We don't have long until Christmas, you know."
"That sounds great. I'm sure Souta would love to, too." She absently rubbed the Akita's back with her foot. Christmas always had been her favorite holiday, even though, of course, her family wasn't Christian…being the owners of a Shinto shrine and all. It was just a great family tradition.
She could already smell the sweet aroma of baked gingerbread and pumpkin logs. She could already feel soft touch of the velvet stockings hung neatly near the tree.
"We've only got nine more days, so we need to go ahead and get the tree today. Do you want to come with me and help pick it out?"
The young woman nodded. "But I can't decorate it today. I need to finish studying for my exams."
"You've been studying so hard all week. I know you'll do very well. And just think: After all this is over, you'll have three school-free weeks to do whatever you want."
"Only one more day," she murmured dreamily. No more dragging herself to school at ungodly hours after devotedly cramming all night. Well, for a few weeks anyway.
Six figures stood tall and proud, side-by-side on the gruesome battlefield outside the village walls. They ignored the crows that gleefully and savagely picked at the bones of the deceased; they ignored the dust that the wind stirred up, and stared ahead, unblinking.
Inuyasha's trained ears picked up the jeers that came from the other side of the battlefield; he smirked. They had no idea just want they were in for. Those monsters probably believed that they were just a free kill. In fact, Inuyasha knew it from the way that they stared hungrily at him and his comrades.
"It seems that they underestimate us," Sesshoumaru mused. "All is well—we can use that to our advantage."
"Idiots, the lot of them. Ganbaru is nothing to take lightly." A grim smile toyed with the bull youkai's lips, but it was gone as quickly as it came. "They will find out when I use it to carve off their faces."
Ayame made a face. "Ugg, that's disgusting, Ushitsuyoi!" Somehow, the wolf youkai had managed to sweet talk Kouga into letting her be part of the elite group of warriors.
'Good,' Inuyasha thought, 'Just as long as he keeps his paws off Kagome.'
"Sorry, Princess, but by the end of the day, youkai will be missing both faces and limbs," he smirked, fondly patting the monstrosity he called an axe.
She clucked her tongue and folded her arms over her chest. "Nauseating…"
In a single, fluent movement, Tessaiga was unsheathed and gleaming in the sunlight. "Everyone ready?"
The synchronized movements as everyone moved to their battle stance were accompanied by nods, smirks, or both.
The inu hanyou stared straight ahead at his foes as he spoke. "Kouga—you stay with Ayame. Everyone else—spread further apart, but stay in a line if possible. The stray youkai will be taken care of by the others." He motioned over his shoulder to their army waiting patiently 100 yards behind them.
Tokijin, also, was unsheathed, but remained at Sesshoumaru's side. The sword pulsed, begging for the battle. "Now." The Inu no Taisho's cold voice was tinged with something unidentifiable; his eyes glazed with a predatory gleam.
Without waiting for further prodding, the youkai and hanyou advanced on Naraku's army. Kouga and Ayame disappeared in two large twisters, Kagura was slicing through the air on her feather, and Ushitsuyoi barreled forward with his axe raised high above his head. The two brothers were also sprinting toward the army.
It had already been decided that Inuyasha would deal the first blow as well as provide the signal at which the others were to join them. They needed to do this efficiently—be in and out as quickly as possible, destroying as many as they could in the process.
Blood pounded in the hanyou's ears while his feet hammered rhythmically against the black earth. Skipping a step, he pushed himself off the ground, raising the Great Fang high before bringing it down to slice through the earth. "Kaze no Kize!" Light poured from the sword, charging across the clearing toward its target, ripping and tearing at the terrain, decimating the youkai as it continued forward.
All hell broke loose as the other warriors jumped to action while Naraku's army was still stunned by the huge explosion.
Sesshoumaru's feet fell light upon the ground as he charged forward. With a wave of his arm, a hundred youkai were bathed in Tokijin's malignant red light and destroyed. "Kagura, stay close," the inu youkai called to his mate after sending yet another crimson wave toward the crowd.
"Fuujin no Mai!" After seeing that several youkai fell under her sharp wind blades, she addressed Sesshoumaru from the sanctity of her feather. "You're not paying attention to the fight, love—Fuujin no Mai!"
"Attention is overrated," he mumbled irritably. He cast a quick glance at Tokijin before sheathing it. "This Sesshoumaru grows tired of using the same technique." With a flourish of his hand, he produced his poison energy whip and made quick work of the youkai that drew too close to him.
"Fuujin no Mai!—efficiency, Sesshoumaru! Efficiency over style…" She flicked her fan open and waved it at some of the dead bodies. The gust soon held the strength of a hurricane, and the forgotten katanas that were lying on the ground sliced through the air to impale the front line.
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Ushitsuyoi was easily holding his own against the hoard of angry youkai that came crashing toward him. With a grunt, he slammed Ganbaru into the ground, satisfied when the earth shifted and heaved under his awesome power and swallowed many before closing back up with a groan.
"What the hell?" Inuyasha stopped mid-attack to stare at him. "What was that?—Kaze no Kizu!"
The bull lifted his axe and twirled it expertly in his hand. "You are not the only one with a special weapon, Dog-shit."
Inuyasha grunted as he pushed two youkai back before slicing through their armor. He'd thoughtlessly allowed them to get too close. "Kaze no Kizu!—I thought I told you to stop calling me that."
Ushitsuyoi barked a laugh and hurled his mighty weapon through the air, watching while it cut down several youkai before returning to his grasp.
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Ayame carefully plucked a petal from her iris before tucking it back behind her ear. She had no doubt that the petal would replace itself within the next minute, and she would once again own a perfect iris blossom. She clutched the petal to her breast over her heart. In one fluent movement, she snagged the petal between her fingers and sent it swirling through the air. The single razor sharp petal soon split into fifteen petals that went straight for the throats of their victims before spiraling back to its original form.
"Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew! Kouga…I really did carve their faces off!" She leaned over the two poor, mutilated souls that managed to get caught up in the small twister at the end of her attack.
"Ayame! Pay attention to the battle!" he yelled, leaping in front of her and landing a kick at one of the advancing youkai. He worked tirelessly through the hoard of demons and humans that kept on coming. The lethal power of the jewel shards combined with his already powerful kicks proved fatal to most of the mindless youkai after the first blow.
"Oh, right!" She pulled two more petals from her hair ornament, and twenty more youkai fell at her feet.
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"So Dog-shit," Ushitsuyoi teased, "how is it you're still alive using only that toy you call a sword?" He continued to mow down his opponents.
"Fuck! I know you just didn't call Tessaiga a toy—and stop calling me that, Fat Ass!"
The youkai chuckled, blocking the claws of a skilled tiger youkai before cutting him down. "Oh-ho! Fat Ass? And yeah, that rusty piece of tin couldn't cut paper compared to Ganbaru."
"Kaze no Kizu!"
Ushitsuyoi picked up the silent challenge and once again rammed the battle axe into the earth, which, as predicted, opened, swallowing well over thirty youkai. "See?"
The hanyou sniggered. "Yeah…I saw. I saw Tessaiga take down a hundred youkai while yours took only a third of that."
Frowning, the youkai performed the attack again, this time managing to cut down about fifty stray youkai.
"Threatened, Fat Ass?" Inuyasha asked smugly.
Ushitsuyoi snorted. "Not hardly, Dog-shit. But seriously, why do you need such a big sword? You're so little."
"I'm not little; you're abnormally fat." The Kaze no Kizu thundered across the battlefield. The youkai were slowly inching forward; it wouldn't be long 'til they would be forced to engage in hand-to-hand combat.
"Heh! I could squish you."
"I'm sure you could, Fat Ass," he remarked dryly.
"I think…," the bull began arrogantly, "I think you're trying to…compensate for something."
A cocky grin twitched the corners of Inuyasha's mouth. "I don't need to compensate for anything…"
Ushitsuyoi froze, forgetting the battle ahead as he stared incredulously at his comrade before pointing his axe at him. "Are you insinuating that I do?"
The hanyou opened his mouth, but was cut off by a disgusted inu youkai.
"I know you aren't having this inane conversation here where this Sesshoumaru is forced to listen to it."
Kagura's feather floated to the ground, and she stood beside her mate while he held his enemies back with a wave of the newly unsheathed Tokijin. "They're getting too close, Sesshoumaru. We need to hurry this up and get the rest of the men in here."
"Agreed."
Kagura flicked her fan back open. "Inuyasha, if you'll will attack once more, giving the signal, I'll be able to distract them long enough for the others to get here. Sesshoumaru—help him."
Inuyasha swung Tessaiga in front of him, watching as diamond ran up the Great Fang, completely casing it in the indestructible rock. This attack was the signal the others had so patiently been waiting for. "My pleasure—Kongousouha!" Spears of diamond shot forward plowing a straight line through the opposing force; Tokijin demolished another wave of youkai and humans.
Kagura leapt into action, holding her fan high above her head and bringing it down with as much force as she could manage. The powerful wind soared over the battlefield, brushing against the bodies and bones of the dead. Kagura closed her eyes and concentrated.
"Shikabane no Mai…"
As suddenly as the blast of air came, it died. Naraku's army froze, looking around in confusion. Other than the armies of Inuyasha's comrades, no one moved.
It wasn't until some youkai lost in the huge mass yelped that Inuyasha, himself, noticed that the dead humans and youkai were raising to their feet and brandishing their weapons.
Naraku's army was being attacked by their own dead warriors…
The hand to hand combat began when the others arrived at the side of their leaders.
"Miss Higurashi! I was told that you'd be coming to make up your exams." The school secretary stood from her chair and patted her skirt smooth before extending her hand to Kagome. "You've made quite an extraordinary recovery! I must admit…I was a bit incredulous when they told me that you'd be taking your tests so soon."
Scratching the back of her neck, Kagome giggled nervously. "I know…it's a…miracle."
The secretary smiled and walked her back to the office door. "You're in luck, young lady. Professor Shimizu was kind enough to volunteer to come in today so that you'd have a 'home'."
She smiled, pushing her bag strap further up her shoulder. "That was nice of him," she agreed. 'Maybe…maybe today won't be so bad after all. I'll get to see Shippou.' "Thanks so much for letting me make these up!"
"You're most certainly welcome. Now, hurry up before Professor Shimizu changes his mind."
Throwing the secretary one last gracious smile, she took off down the hall, only stopping once she'd reached Shippou's classroom. Flashing him an apologetic grin, she dropped to her desk. "Sorry I'm late."
He nodded and placed a large stack of papers on her desk. "Blindness? Really, Kagome…I've heard some creative ailments from you, but…" He trailed off with a grin.
She picked up her pencil and began to hurriedly fill out the answers she knew—least she forget them. "You think I wanted to be blind? Gramps apparently got to the phone before my mom could—I think he enjoys thinking of diseases and body…disorders…"
With a chuckle, Shippou sat back down in his desk and continued to grade his exams. They'd be here for a while.
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"And…done!" Seven hours later, she happily slammed her pencil down on her desk with a bit more force than she had meant to. "Finally…" She slumped against her desk and closed her eyes to savor the moment.
"Nice," Shippou allowed, collecting the scattered tests that laid on her desk. "What are you planning to do over Christmas holidays?"
She frowned and shrugged. "I guess I don't know. I have nothing to do since Inuyasha isn't here. And he won't let me go through the well until he gets back."
"You're always welcome to have dinner with our family. I'm sure Rin would love to see you, and the children always love it when guest come over—means they get dessert," he winked.
"I don't know…" she began uncertainly. "Rin seemed a bit upset the last time we showed up."
The kitsune waved off her concern with a hand. "She was just a bit overwhelmed. She really would love to see you again."
"Oh! How did her convention go? I had no idea that Rin was an artist."
"It went very well, actually. She's always been a great painter; I think you would like her work."
The miko smiled wanly at him. "I guess I could come over some time…if you're sure."
"Absolutely." He glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. It was almost three o'clock. "What do you say we go grab a bite to eat and then I'll drop you off at the shrine? You've been sitting here with no break for hours."
"That sounds great. It'll give us more time to catch up." She patted her stomach sympathetically. She was very hungry.
"Right. I'll go sign us out. Be waiting at the front door, and I'll bring my car around."
"There. The child should be alright," the woman quietly told the little girl's mother. "Make sure she gets plenty of rest, and give her these herbs every night for five nights." The priestess stood, picking up her bow and arrows and strode to the door, studying the forest in the horizon.
'Something isn't right…Great evil is upon us.' Turning back to the mother, she said, "I must go now."
"Thank you so much, Lady Kikyou. The gods have blessed us by sending you to our village."
The tragically beautiful miko allowed a small smile and exited the tiny shanty, deliberately striding to the woods on the outskirts of the village.
'He is here for me already. I thought I would have more time…' Looking down at her porcelain hands, she had to wonder what went wrong. 'There was a time when I was pure, untainted, but now this false body of mine holds nothing but thoughts of hatred and vengeance. I know this; I understand this, so why…why can't I destroy Naraku? Do I hate Inuyasha that much?' She refused to answer that. She had a feeling, though, that hating Inuyasha wasn't the problem. Not at all.
Her own words came back to haunt her, words from not so long ago.
"I will take care of her. I want to watch her die."
Uttering those callous words about Kagome had been like a douse of ice water. She realized that something was horribly wrong when she felt pleasure at the thought of destroying something or someone so good and pure. Wasn't that the reason that she felt she had to leave Naraku a few months ago?
She readied her arrow. "Come out, Naraku. I know you are here."
The harsh sound of his chortling filled the woods, but the miko stood tall and proud. "Kikyou…Still as sharp as ever I see."
"You, yourself, haven't changed either. You still resort to lurking around, spying on me. You should be careful, Naraku; people might believe you are being dishonest."
The hanyou skulked out of the woods, baboon pelt wrapped tightly around him, covering all features. "Come now, Kikyou. Who's deceiving whom?" He held his hand out to her passively. "You've lingered in this village for quite a while. Surely you've told the poor villagers what you are—a cold, clay body, feeding off the souls of their beloved dead. That matters not to me."
Kikyou made no move as he approached her slowly.
"Come back with me, Kikyou. We've much to do." He reached out for her bow, tightly grasping it in his hands and gently pushing it downwards away from him.
Still, she made no sound, but looked away from him. She would have to make a choice now. She could work with the man she detested to destroy the man she loved, or she could work with the man she loved to destroy the man she detested. A picture of her reincarnation, of Kagome, flashed painfully through her mind. Inuyasha loved that girl now; there was no room for her in his heart.
There hadn't been for some time now—she'd realized that.
Without a word, she lowered her bow, pulling it away from the abominable hanyou and stepped forward, toward Naraku.
She'd made her choice, however foolish she realized it to be. She'd made her choice long ago; she could only hope that her time in this revolting world was nearing its end.
Chuckling, he led her into the dark forest. "I have sent a surprise to our dear hanyou and his friends. If we do not hurry, we will miss it."
Her throat constricted painfully, but she continued to follow. 'My reincarnation is foolish for believing she is the weaker one,' she thought bitterly.
Kagome looked up from her noodles to stare openly at Shippou. She still wasn't quite used to the jarring shock of seeing him, well, grown. "So…how did you and Rin…?"
Swallowing his food, he curiously looked up at her. "Hmm? Oh, you mean how did it all begin?"
The girl nodded and took a sip of her water, waiting patiently for him to continue.
"Well, the older I got, the more and more I saw her. It wasn't long before she was my best friend; I told her everything, and she, me." He grinned at the miko, but Kagome had a feeling that he wasn't actually seeing her.
"I still remember our first kiss. We were both seventeen, and there was a large celebration at the village—New Year's, you know." He smiled wistfully at his food. "It took three more years, but I was finally able to convince Sesshoumaru to let me take her as my mate."
"He didn't like the idea at first, huh?" Her amusement was evident. She'd known that Sesshoumaru was protective of the little girl, but for some reason, she'd never imagined him as the unreasonable father type—forbidding his daughter to date.
Shippou chuckled, his green eyes sparkling. "No, not at all. He actually forbade me to see her after I asked him the second time, but we were young and in love, neither of us handled it well. A week later he gave me his blessing—I think that was mostly Kagura's doing. She frightens the hell out of him, you know."
"That's so romantic," she whispered, staring dreamily into space.
He laughed again. It was nice to hear laughter again, Kagome decided. She'd heard it far too little in the last month. It made her want to laugh again too.
"I'm sure the same thing could be said for you and Inuyasha. After all, what's more idealistic than conquering the impossible to find your significant other?"
The miko's eyes widened. She'd never thought of it like that, but it was true. She'd met her knight in shining armor in a fairytale. Yes, he was abrasive, short-tempered, and secretive, but she loved him. And there were more than enough good things about him to keep her from being bothered. As she had told Houjou, they were his 'quirks'. And she loved them too…
Inuyasha grinned, sheathing Tessaiga. It had taken a while—a long time actually, but most of Naraku's army had been defeated. The little that was left were retreating as he stood with the others.
His tactic had apparently worked; hardly any of his comrades fell, and Naraku's losses towered above their own. As soon as his allies arrived at his side, they had immediately engulfed the dwindling army, and, as a result, they stood victorious.
"Well," Kouga began quietly, "that was fairly painless." Ayame nodded at his side before kneeling beside a fallen wolf. She calmly stroked his fur, losing herself in her thoughts.
Inuyasha was thrown by the silent sadness that enveloped her. She'd probably never seen anything quite like this—battles, sure, but never anything like this. This was one of the many reasons he'd left Kagome behind. He knew in his heart that she would have reacted the same way, and that, he couldn't handle.
Leaving her behind had been one thing; he would always come back for her, but nobody can 'un-see' what they've witnessed. And…he didn't want that for her.
His admiration for the wolf prince grew ten-fold when Kouga knelt beside Ayame, allowing her to wrap her arms around his neck before cradling her against his chest and carrying her to back to the castle.
Slowly, the youkai began to disappear as they, too, solemnly walked back into the village, leaving behind a frightening scene of carnage and destruction.
Ushitsuyoi cleared his throat. "I, uh…I better go talk to my people. They…should know that it's over for now."
But it wasn't over, Inuyasha realized. It wouldn't be over until Naraku had been destroyed.
It wasn't long before only Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru, and Kagura were left alone on the desolate field, silently paying their respects to those fallen warriors.
"So…I guess this means I can go home now," Inuyasha murmured numbly. It didn't seem quite right… Aside from Miroku, the battle had been fairly easy, in his eyes at least. He'd already assumed Naraku would fail to show up…the coward. He'd rather use his pawns to do his dirty work for him.
"It seems so. I've grown quite tired of this place, myself. Kagura? Shall we ready the men for our departure?"
She flashed him a quick smile and nodded, but never got to finish her thoughts before the hair on her neck stood on end. Her eyes widened as she stared into her mate's molten orbs. He, too, understood what was happening when the sky suddenly turned black, and the wind picked up. "…Oh, no…"
"Shit!" Inuyasha cursed, whipping out Tessaiga.
The Inu no Taisho stepped protectively in front of his mate as the black wind died down revealing that abomination. He eyed the man coldly. "You're a little late, aren't you, Naraku?"
Well…I'm finished with this chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it; I enjoyed writing it, and, yes, I do enjoy leaving you all with a cliff-hanger. Sorry for the venting earlier, but it needed to be said. 'Till I update again, good-bye!
Quotes of Randomness:
"Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer." –Mark Twain
"Suppose you are an idiot…now suppose you are a member of Congress…but I repeat myself." --Mark Twain