Disclaimer - I do not own InuYasha. That is a good thing for some of you, yes?
Author's Notes - I'M BAAAACCCCKKKKKKKKK! Yep, here I am, and as promised, here are TWO new chapters of Starlight and Shadows, my apology for making you wait nearly 3 months. Now, to find out how many of you are still interested and how many of you I've lost . . . damn non-internet accessing capable computer! Well, here they are, and don't forget to review . . . let me know that you haven't forgotten me.
Chapter 27 - Nothing is Ever the End
He cradled his mate gently in his arms, picking her up and moving her to a soft patch of grass a good distance away from the battlefield. Sighing as he put her down, he smoothed a few stray strands of hair back from her sleeping face, a gentle smile passing briefly over his lips as he allowed his pride and love to come through the rough exterior he presented to the world.
She had done well . . . more than even he had expected of her. He meant to have a good long talk with her about kissing Naraku however . . . there had to have been some way of getting Naraku to trust her completely without having kissed him. That was worse than if she had ever allowed Kouga to kiss her!
Speaking of the mangy wolf . . . InuYasha rose slowly back to his feet, approaching the prone wolf lord cautiously, his nose to the wind, looking for a trace scent of life. There was none. Growling at how moronic the wolf was for getting himself killed, InuYasha turned to his brother . . . and the sword that was the twin of his own Tetsusiaga. Made from their father's second fang, it's powers were what he needed now . . . if he could master them.
Absently, he wondered why the sword had not protected his brother when Naraku had attacked him. Usually, Tensiaga would have kept Sesshoumaru from dying . . . it had before, after all, when InuYasha and the youkai lord had faced off as InuYasha was learning to harness the Wind Scar. So why hadn't it done so now?
He hesitated momentarily before sliding the sword out of the sheath at his brother's side. It pulsed once, much as Tetsusiaga had done when it had first accepted him as it's wielder and started working for him. He examined the blade carefully, but could find nothing amiss. So why hadn't Tensiaga protected Sesshoumaru?
InuYasha turned his attention to the sheath . . . and found the source of the problem. A long, jagged crack ran down the length of the sheath . . . Naraku must have hit it at one point during the battle. Knowing how unspoiled Tetsusiaga's own sheath was to contain the blade, he could only assume that Tensiaga-7/+++++++++++++'s sheath was ensorceled as well and that somehow, the crack in the sheath had interfered with it's magic. Now, if only the sword would work for him.
Holding it as he had seen his brother do, he concentrated on the sword . . . and watched as the real world became fuzzy around him. Imps appeared near his brother's body, crawling like insects over the fallen youkai lord. Disgusted, InuYasha swung at them with Tensiaga, watching as they disintegrated before the blade. He nearly jumped back in shock as his brother gasped loudly, drawing in a haggard breath as the life returned to his body.
Amber met gold in confusion before coming to rest on the sword clutched in InuYasha's hand. Understanding replaced confusion in moments, and Sesshoumaru nodded his thanks before attempting to stand. He found himself held in place by his brother's hand.
"You shouldn't move yet. I'll handle the others . . . you take care of that wound of yours," the hanyou murmured, before moving off to check on Miroku and Sango. They were both alive, but in terrible shape. Unable to do anything for them but bind their wounds and move them, he did so, placing them beside Kagome on the patch of grass before moving to Kouga. As much as he disliked the wolf lord, Kagome would never forgive him if he left him dead . . . besides, he owed Kouga a debt, and this would pay it in full.
He turned from reviving Kouga . . . and his heart stopped. There was a soft glow surrounding Kagome . . . a glow that was too similar to that of the Shikon No Tama for his liking. That jewel had caused him more trouble in his life for him to ever desire the thing again, and he held more dislike for it now than he had ever held for anything else . . . even Kouga.
He approached his glowing mate slowly . . . and came to an abrupt halt when a transparent figure appeared beside her. The figure was familiar, a priestess dressed in armor, her flowing black hair and robes still and silent even in the light breeze that was clearing Naraku's miasma away.
"Midoriko . . ." InuYasha murmured. The figure acknowledged her name with a brief bow of her head. "Why are you here?"
"To set things to rights, as they should be," she murmured, her voice as fragile as spun glass as it whispered on the wind. "She does not belong here, InuYasha." Horror and anger crossed his features as he realized what she was saying.
"No! She's my mate . . . we belong together! You can't . . ."
"I must," Midoriko whispered, breaking him off mid-sentence. "For everything to be restored in it's proper order, she must return where she belongs. She does not belong to this time and place . . . this soul died fifty years ago, and must be returned to the time it was reincarnated in. I am sorry." She began to fade away . . . as did the figure of Kagome lying prone beside her.
"No!" the hanyou howled, lunging towards the translucent figures. His hand passed through the warrior priestess easily . . . and through Kagome.
"NO! KAGOME!!" he howled, dropping to his knees where his mate had lay. He clawed at the ground, digging at as if to reach her wherever Midoriko had taken her. It took both Kouga and Sesshoumaru, working together in silence, to pull him away.
*-------*-------*-------*-------*
Kagome woke slowly, feeling an unfamiliar softness beneath her. She opened her eyes slowly, bringing into focus a familiar white ceiling who's lines and minor imperfections she knew by heart. She sat up in shock, her eyes wide as she stared around the familiar surroundings of her room. She was back in her time . . . how did that happen?
"InuYasha?" she whispered hoarsely, hoping against the dread in her heart that he had brought her here. Silence met her ears, unbroken by his familiar gruff response or the thud of his footsteps upon the wooden floor.
A glimmer of light caught her attention. Standing slowly, she walked to her desk, and picked up the completed Shikon No Tama. It's light pulsed faintly in her hand, and she spun to face the translucent figure of Midoriko.
"Hello priestess of the Shikon No Tama," Midoriko murmured, bowing softly to the stunned young miko.
"Midoriko . . ." Kagome murmured, surprise etched into her features.
"Yes," the former warrior priestess replied. "I wished to thank you for freeing me before I moved on to what ever it is the god's have in store for me. You are a brave soul, young Kagome . . . which is why I know you will survive this newest hardship."
"What new hardship? What do you mean?" It dawned on her suddenly. "No!" she whispered brokenly. "I don't belong here! InuYasha . . . the others . . . I belong with them! Why did you bring me back?"
"This is your time and place, Lady Kagome, not the Feudal Japan that you have spent so much time in. You belong here . . . the god's have decreed it, and so it must be. I am sorry . . . but you will find love again."
"No!" Kagome yelled, startling even herself with the loudness of it in the silence. "I will not except this . . . InuYasha is my mate! I will not leave him alone back there to fall back into the misery and self recrimination your so called gods have condemned him to for most of his life!" Turning, she ran from the room, the Shikon No Tama clutched tightly in her hands as she sped out of the house towards the well.
"I am sorry . . ." the warrior priestess whispered, before disappearing.
Kagome arrived at the well, and without hesitation she jumped. The landing was rough, bruising her knees as she fell to them as the well refused to open for her as it had in the past.
"No . . . oh no, please," she cried, tears flowing from her eyes in silent streams as she struck at the ground with her fists. "Let me through, damn you . . . I have to get to him!" She continued to beat on the ground, unaware of the stones and sticks that scratched and bit deep, drawing blood as she tried desperately to claw her way back to her mate and her friends.
It was many hours later that her grandfather found her, huddled into a shivering ball at the bottom of the well, her heartbroken sobs wracking her slight frame with their force as she cried for herself . . . and for the love that had been denied her.
*-------*-------*-------*-------*
"How is he?" Sango murmured, drawing Miroku out of hearing range from the silent figure that kept vigil over the well that had once brought him his salvation.
"The same," the houshi replied, turning concerned eyes towards the object of their conversation. "He won't eat . . . I can't even get him to leave the well. He just sits there Sango . . . he sits there and stares into it's depths with no life in his eyes at all. He won't even speak to me anymore."
Sango turned saddened eyes to the figure that perched upon the edge of the well, never moving, never speaking . . . simply watching for something that was never going to happen. Her heart went out to him . . . he hadn't even gotten the chance to say goodbye to her. Her mind went back over the last few months since they'd defeated Naraku . . . she had awoken to InuYasha's howl of rage and pain to find Sesshoumaru and Kouga pulling him away from a very torn patch of earth. She had looked around for some sign of Kagome . . . and had seen nothing.
Hours later, when Miroku had woken as well and InuYasha had been literally knocked unconscious by his elder brother, Sesshoumaru had told them what had happened. Sango, for one of the few times in her life, had cried . . . cried for the friend she had lost, and the friend that was now in so much pain he was no longer himself. Curling into Miroku, she had sobbed for what seemed like hours before her mind began to curse the gods for everything they had done. What had Kagome and InuYasha ever done to deserve such a horrible sentence passed upon them, just as they had found each other?
The trip back to the village had been nerve wracking . . . InuYasha had almost refused to leave the spot where Kagome had disappeared. It had come down to a fight between the brothers, reminding Sango forcefully of the days before Sesshoumaru had become an ally. In the end, Sesshoumaru had played dirty, reminding InuYasha that if Kagome was able to come back, she would do so through the well that lay not far from the village.
Kouga had accompanied them, somehow realizing that Sesshoumaru would need his help to keep InuYasha from going berserk. The trip had been uneventful otherwise . . . everyone being lost in their own thoughts and sorrow over the loss of the ever optimistic Kagome.
Once arriving at the village, they'd been surprised to discover Rin and Shippo waiting for them. Seeing them, InuYasha had immediately set out for the well. It had been up to the others to find out how the two young one's had come back . . . and to find out that they had just appeared out of nowhere, with no idea as to how or why. Rushing to the well, they had found InuYasha snarling at the bottom of the well, attempting to dig through the dirt, cursing loudly as it refused to yield to his will. Finally exhausting his energy, he'd hopped out of the well and settled onto the edge . . . and hadn't moved since.
Only Miroku knew that those golden eyes now floated in a sea of unshed tears as he stared into a well that no longer worked . . . a whole world separating him from the woman he had come so desperately to love.
TO BE CONTINUED . . .
Author's Notes - ON THE NEXT PAGE! MUAHAHAHAHAHAH! Okay, anyway . . . *clears her throat* There's a second chapter up, so don't forget to go read that one too. And Please, review. I'm still a junky, and I've been in major withdrawal.