I Wish For Tomorrow
A/N: Bad author. Bad. -smacks self- ;.; Sorry I've been bad about updating lately, I've been busy. It's only like..a month and a half until exams (AHH! O_O) and teachers seem to be remembering that. x_X I go to New York in three days, so I've been doing a ton of last minute shopping on top of that. (Woot! NYC baby!)
Well, I was sick today, so I decided to write this chapter. Hope you enjoy and I'll try to be better about updating. n_n
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Aniue - Big Brother
Daijoubu? - Are you alright?
Hanyou - Half Demon
Imouto - Little Sister
Ningen - Human
Sengoku Jidai - Feudal Era
Tama - Jewel
Yarou - You Bastard
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Chapter VI
Aniue and Imouto
"Aniue!" Jikanjiku screamed, reaching her slender hand for another, a desperate grab for her brother. "I'm so sorry! Aniue!" A tearful smile met her wild eyes as Jikanjiku watched as he slid farther from her.
"It's alright," the other elf whispered as he disappeared into darkness. "I forgive you. I don't blame you. It's okay, Jikanjiku.."
"ANIUE!"
Jikanjiku awoke with a start, two pairs of eyes looking into hers, one pair curious, the other worried.
"Daijoubu?" Kagome said quietly.
"I'm fine," she replied curtly, sitting up. "I see you made it out of the Web of Dreams. I congratulate you. Not many have survived Jaki's tricks. I commend your courage and belief in one another." Her expression was dark. "I've been through it many times. You needn't worry," she answered to their unasked question.
"Under any circumstances," she continued. "We have to hurry. Time is running out."
Kagome and Inuyasha nodded; they had begun to feel the effects of being in this place for the past five days. Their muscles were sore and weakened. Even their magnificant wings were feeling the pressure of being their. That this place wasn't where they were meant to be.
"We'll go," Inuyasha said. "I don't want to die here. I have the rest of my life ahead of me."
~~~
Jaki and a small band of Time Demons watched with menacing curiosity at the three from atop a black swirling cloud. "So, they managed to escape," Jaki spat at the others in anger. "But we'll do better next time. They haven't felt the full and complete wrath of Jaki, Lord of the Time Demons!"
The other demons hooted and hollered with delight, and five more joined, carrying with them a battered and bound elf. Jaki's eyes widened with sick delight at the sight.
"You've found him..." he whispered. "At long last, Jikanjiku, Guardian of the Gates, I will have my revenge on you, and those fools that purged the jewel of evil."
The Time Demons erupted into cheers and manic laughter, as the fearful elf watched in puzzled fear.
What am I doing back here...?
~~~
Kagome, Inuyasha, and Jikanjiku flew through the patterned sky, hunting desperately for the branches that were their own, that would allow the two young lovers to live freely together without worry or doubt that Shikon no Tama's curse would follow them.
Inuyasha and Kagome had seen a great deal of the endless sky full of fates of living beings in worlds of every kind, and had seen marked differences in the designs. Some were curvy, while others were boxy. Some were darker in colour, others were lighter.
"Lighter colours indicate a purer life," Jikanjiku had explained to them. "The lighter, the purer. The darker, the more evil. It's my duty to guard these fates, because the slightest alteration can ruin worlds. Time Demons would love to destroy the pure, like you Kagome, and fill all worlds with hate and evil. Other, angelic forces try to purge the evil, and fill all the worlds with purity."
"But wouldn't that be a good thing?" Kagome asked.
"You might think," Jikanjiku responded lightly. "But a world with no challenges in life to overcome is a boring one. If it had not been for the challenge of collecting the shards of Shikon no tama, where would you be today? In your own little world, no doubt dating that senseless Hojo boy."
Inuyasha made a face at that that made Kagome and Jikanjiku laugh.
"Don't be jealous, Inuyasha," Kagome chided. "It didn't happen. I went to the Sengoku Jidai, met you, and fell in love with you. And now this is where we are."
Inuyasha's face softened with his familiar smirk. "I would've lived until your time anyways, still seeking the power of the tama. And we would've met anyways."
Kagome laughed again, giving his hand an affectionate squeeze with her own. But the sweet moment was not to last, for at that moment, a well shot arrow found Jikanjiku's shoulder. With a pained scream, Jikanjiku fell to the ground hundreds of feet below, Inuyasha and Kagome racing after her. Her wings crumpled, waving uselessly at her sides.
"Jikanjiku!" Kagome shouted, reaching her hand to grab her without success. The elf landed with a thud on the ground, her shoulder colourfully died with the blood from her wound, the arrow stuck unattractively in her shoulder. But Jikanjiku took no notice, because not more than a few yards away stood something that nearly made her heart fail her.
"A..Aniue.."
A choked sob escaped the elf's throat as she screamed, "ANIUE! JAKI YAROU!" Her eyes glowed with her hatred for the Time Demon Lord.
Kagome gasped as her feet touched the ground, even Inuyasha was left speechless for all he had seen and experienced.
Before the ningen, hanyou, and elf was a young male elf. Angelic white wings were bent at unnatural angles, scarlet with blood.His well-tanned skin was covered in bruises and deep gashes, sweating with the effort to stay standing. Tattered clothes hung over his emaciated form. And beside him, beating him endlessly with a glass-encrusted whip, was Jaki.
The elf lifted his head with extreme effort, his dull purple eyes meeting Jikanjiku's own and breathed the words that made Kagome and Inuyasha's blood run cold.
"Jikanjiku..imouto-san..."
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Jikanjiku's dark past is partially revealed. :O And the rest is to come in the next chapter! (God even I'M eager to find out what happens in writing..and I'm the AUTHOR. O_o Or maybe I'm just weird.)