The soul of the child curled up in the roots of Bokusenou had not said a word since they had agreed the child would come to visit him every year. Word were not needed however as they granted him access to the combined memories and lives of the spirits within the soul.
The already ancient tree youkai learned of each human priestess, of their lives and their loves and their losses—but most of all, their burdens. Though he ached to press for questions about each Miko's life and choices in the burden's they carried, he focused on lighter things.
And so, the soul of the last Priestess, the original Kagome, shared with him the future. She showed him images of human dwellings taller than even his highest branches could reach, and villages that sprawled further than even his deepest roots were buried. He was fascinated, entranced by the future to come—and wondered that there were no youkai, indeed even no magic, in the future she showed him. But she did not deign to answer when he asked such a question—or any question.
Over the three days the soul waited, she grew less and less corporeal until she was nearly invisible to his ancient eyes. On the evening of the third day all Bokusenou could see of her was a faint pink outline, a glimmer of purity in the darkness of his forest.
When she faded completely, he was not surprised.
But she was, as her soul was dragged from its peaceful home in his forest into the depths of the afterlife. The trees that surrounded her in his forest were replaced by forests made of bone, massive piles of it. Birds flew through a sky as blue as the one she'd just left but there was no flesh on their flapping wings, only the eerie sound of bone grinding against bone.
And there was a child, where no living figure should be. The soul studied the child, and the child studied the soul. The soul was more physical here now that the entirety of its being was in one place. Or at least, because the rest of her soul was in this world.
"You're…you're Kagome," Izayoi said, brown eyes wide as they stared at each other. "You're Kagome, but you're Kikyou and…why can't I see the third one?"
The soul paused, before finally settling to shift and give one spirit within dominance. "Because she is alive in this time—the original, the first to wish. You cannot know her name."
Izayoi didn't really understand, but she guessed that didn't matter. "Toga-sama said we had to rescue you, but if you're here then we should just be able to go home now, right?"
Kagome sighed and turned her attention from the child to the endless expanse of blue skies and forests made of bones. "No. We have to find the rest of our soul. We are only a portion of our soul." She turned to Izayoi again, offered a warm smile. "We will protect you." She held out her hand for the child to take. "We can take you, and you will help us leave."
And so Izayoi settled herself for another adventure she was not yet at all sure about. But as with all children she managed to find things to entertain herself, especially when Kagome introduced a game called 'I spy.'
Hours passed there in the afterlife as Kagome led the child to her soul—but days passed in the real world. Kagome fed the child on pieces of her own reki, siphoning some of her power off into the girl so Izayoi hardly noticed the passing time as they played games.
When they finally reached the small copse where her soul resided—it looked startlingly familiar to the one Bokusenou resided in—Kagome was distressed to note the little soulbarers steadily chipping away at the chains holding her soul in place.
Izayoi stepped forward and was surrounded by an odd white glow. What childlike innocence had been in her eyes was gone, replaced with a millennia's worth of death and life. "Leave the soul," she ordered, catching the attention of the little death imps attempting to take the Miko's soul.
Their attention diverted from the chained bit of her soul to the free bit, they launched themselves at Kagome. She prepared to attack, trying to summon her powrs but found she was quite without them here. But it didn't matter as Izayoi stepped in front of her and threw out her arm to halt them. White light slashed across their tiny bodies and they lowed out their death cries, their once flesh and blood bodies turning to bone and scattering in the dirt.
The being inside Izayoi then turned to Kagome and where her eyes had once been a warm brown, they were now flat and white. "You should have more care, Miko. We did not send you so far back only for you to die a pup."
The miko paused and again all three spirits vied for dominance as emotions flickered within her. "We will be more aware," that strange echo of three women said.
"You will not be able to return from the afterlife again. This girl's magic has been spent on you," the thing inside Izayoi said.
"We understand," the three said, and offered a low bow in gratitude.
And like that, the chains holding the tiny soul of Kagome the pup down were gone and now it was just her, just the pup standing there next to Izayoi, the hime with brown eyes.
"Who are you?" Kagome demanded, pretty blue eyes wide and curious as she grabbed Izayoi's hand, careful of her sharp claws. "You smell like a human. I've never met a human before!"
Izayoi blinked as if waking from a long dream, a dream swiftly forgotten in the face of a new friend. This blue eyed girl looked older than her, but not by much. Maybe she would want to play games the way her sisters didn't. "I'm Izayoi! I'm a Princess!"
o.O.o
Word Count - 1014