Complete the Circle
Chapter Twenty-Three: Discussion of Pasts
He walked on the near empty streets in silence, the lamps overhead being the only thing that guided him. He crossed roads without waiting for the signs to change, disregarding passing cars. He walked like a man sentenced to death, and in a way, he was.
He knew that Kagome was following him, but he didn't care. What was the point? If he was to be cursed in every life that he was to live, then why didn't he just die now?
He silently reprimanded himself for thinking such thoughts. What was wrong with him? He wasn't the suicidal type. Sure, he just got his second air rip again, but getting an air rip in his past life hadn't stopped him from living. Besides, dying right now would just go Naraku's way, and he would die before making Naraku happy. Wait, dying would make Naraku happy… Okay, that was just getting plain confusing. All in all, he would not die. If anyone was dying, it was going to be Naraku.
He stopped in front of a nice, two story house. He was a bit surprised that his subconscious had brought him here, but he was grateful. He would need to clean himself up before he went home, and he was sure that Inuyasha's parents would better understand the situation than his own parents could. He debated with himself whether he should just sneak into Inuyasha's room and avoid any confrontation with Inuyasha's parents, but decided against it. After all, Inuyasha's mother was a dog youkai, and if he sneaked in and she smelled him, she would get very upset indeed.
He rang the doorbell, hoping someone would open the door. Sometimes, Inuyasha's family just ignored anyone who was at the door, and other times, they didn't answer it because they didn't exactly look appropriate for the human world at that moment.
Thankfully, though, he heard the sound of someone unlocking the door. The door opened and poured the light from inside the house onto the dark street outside.
"Miroku-chan!" Inuyasha's mother cried out, surprised to find him there and even more surprised to find bloodstains on his clothes. "What happened? Come on in!" She quickly ushered him inside. He noticed she looked out onto the street for a moment before closing and locking the door behind her.
Miroku could hear the sounds of two people giggling crazily from another room and peeked inside. Inuyasha was busy tickling Rin, who was rolling around on the ground, laughing while trying to get her brother back. At the sound of Miroku's approach, both stopped their attacks and looked at him in surprise.
"Miroku?" asked Inuyasha, noticing the bloodstains on his clothes. "What the hell happened to you?"
"How dare you speak like that?!" asked Inuyasha's mother, outraged that her son would use such dirty words.
"Oops," cringed Inuyasha from his mother's wrath. "Heh heh," he laughed weakly.
"I'll deal with you later," his mother threatened. "Miroku-chan, please follow me. Your hand is all bloody! What happened?"
"I was attacked by a scorpion youkai," he said, proud that his voice had not wavered. So these memories of his did have some use.
"Why?" asked Inuyasha's father, coming from the other room, frowning. "No one has any reason to attack you."
"I don't know why," Miroku replied calmly, despite the stinging he felt as Inuyasha's mother tried to clean the wound without removing the prayer beads. He was thankful that she was smart enough to figure out that the beads were there for a reason and that he needn't explain why yet.
"Why would someone attack Miroku-nii-chan for no good reason?" asked Rin innocently.
"Because there are bastards out there who like to watch humans suffer," growled Inuyasha's father.
"Hayashi Hikaru," warned Inuyasha's mother, "I will not allow you to speak such a way in front of the children!" He grumbled something about her nagging, which instantly earned him a very hard nudge in the stomach.
"Miroku, are you sure you have no idea as to why you were attacked?" asked Inuyasha. Miroku was slightly surprised by the seriousness in Inuyasha's voice, but he shouldn't have been. With the flood of new memories, he had almost forgotten how this Inuyasha got when any hint of harm came to his friends. Of course, the Inuyasha from the past was equally as passionate about the safety of his companions as this Inuyasha, but the new Inuyasha was better at expressing his concerns.
"I believe it might have something to do with the Shikon no Tama," Miroku said. He saw Mr. Hayashi frown and Mrs. Hayashi look surprised.
"The Shikon no Tama?" asked Mr. Hayashi.
"Why would a youkai attack you for the Shikon no Tama?" asked Mrs. Hayashi. "I thought youkai can't sense the jewel anymore. And why would they think you have the jewel?"
"What's the Shikon no Tama?" asked Inuyasha and Rin in unison.
"The Shikon no Tama is a jewel that can increase the powers of both humans and youkai," explained Miroku briefly.
"How did you know?" asked Mr. Hayashi. "The jewel was shattered nearly five hundred years ago. I didn't think any humans still remembered the power of the jewel."
"I asked someone," Miroku answered evasively. "Anyway, the youkai said she was searching for the jewel right before she attacked."
"But what caused the youkai to think you had the jewel?" asked Mrs. Hayashi, frowning.
"The youkai didn't think I had it," Miroku said. "She thought someone else did. I was just caught in the crossfire."
"That's terrible!" exclaimed Mrs. Hayashi, while her husband interrupted.
"Who did the youkai think had the jewel?" he asked.
"A miko," Miroku said, trying to keep it brief and simple.
"Do you mean Kagome?" asked Inuyasha.
"Who's Kagome?" asked Rin.
"Just a girl at school," answered Inuyasha.
"A girl has the Shikon no Tama?" asked Mr. Hayashi.
"Why are you wearing a necklace around your hand?" interrupted Rin.
"Stop interrupting and let the boy explain!" shouted Mrs. Hayashi, scaring her family into silence. "Ahem. So, Miroku-chan, why don't you please explain to us what exactly happened?" Miroku took a deep breath and decided to keep the tale as short as possible. There were some things he wanted to discuss privately with Inuyasha's parents.
"I was at a shrine and the miko, Kagome, was there also," he started. "Suddenly the scorpion youkai appeared and demanded the Shikon no Tama from Kagome. It then attacked her, and when I…interfered with the youkai's intentions, she gave me this," he said, holding up his right hand. "It is a curse. An air void that can suck in anything, and will one day swallow me into it, unless I can find and kill the one who gave me the curse." He lowered his hand.
"But it's not sucking anything right now," commented Inuyasha, earning a glare from his mother.
"That's because of the prayer beads," explained Miroku. "As long as I have the beads over the hole, it will not swallow anything. But even though the air void is rendered temporarily useless by the beads, it will continue to widen until I am dead."
"So what are you going to do?" asked Mrs. Hayashi, worried for him.
"I don't know yet," Miroku said, shaking his head. "I will definitely try to find the youkai who did this to me and try to break the spell, but somehow I don't think it's as simple as that."
"What do you mean?" asked Inuyasha.
"The youkai… Right before she gave me the air rip, she said that she was going to give me a gift from her master," Miroku said slowly. "Then she disappeared without even attempting to locate the Shikon no Tama."
"So you think there is an ulterior motive to tonight's attack?" asked Mr. Hayashi.
"I am most sure of it," Miroku said, but didn't explain why. He gave Mrs. Hayashi a meaningful look, and she understood him perfectly. Smart woman, Miroku thought to himself as she ordered her children to go to bed. They whined and begged, like usual, but in the end, the stubborn mother won, and her two children stomped off, pissed to be unable to listen to their parents and Miroku's conversation.
"What is it that you wanted to discuss?" asked Mrs. Hayashi, her husband following her as she led them into the kitchen, then closed the door. Must be to keep Rin from listening. He had nearly forgot what excellent hearing Rin possessed. She was half dog youkai, after all.
"I have reason to believe that the attack was issued by Naraku," Miroku started. He looked to the two adults for a reaction, but all he got was a gesture to continue. "I know this sounds really stupid, and you'll probably think I'm crazy, but…" He paused, unsure if he should tell them.
"We won't think it's crazy," Mrs. Hayashi reassured him. Somehow, he took comfort in her words.
"I remember stuff from my past life," he said. He saw Mr. and Mrs. Hayashi exchange looks. "In my past life, I was a monk who was cursed with a similar air void. I had received the air void as a hereditary curse from my father. He had gotten it from his father, who had been cursed by a youkai named Naraku."
"I never liked Naraku," Mr. Hayashi said, but his wife told him to be quiet.
"Anyway, later in my life, I began searching for the Shikon shards. I had known that Naraku would be seeking the power of the Shikon no Tama, just like any other youkai at that time, so I hoped to lure him out with the shards. Somewhere along my journey, I met up with a miko and a hanyou who were also searching for the shards. We joined forces, for it seemed that the hanyou also had some business to take care of that involved Naraku. With them traveled a young kitsune, whose parents had died. Then, a youkai exterminator also joined us. She did not care for the shards, other than the fact that the shards had come from her village. What she cared about was avenging the deaths of everyone in her village, including her family. They were killed indirectly by Naraku, so she joined us in hopes of carrying out her revenge."
"Poor girl," Mrs. Hayashi said, sympathizing with the youkai exterminator.
"What makes you think that what happened today involves Naraku?" asked Mr. Hayashi reasonably, though he looked like he was ready to believe the former monk.
"Simple," said Miroku, "He knew from past experience that Kagome had the Shikon shards, which was why he attacked her, and he's the only youkai I know that would give me an air rip."
"Kagome? How would he know Kagome has the shards?" asked Mrs. Hayashi, slightly confused.
"Ah, that's right," Miroku said, smacking himself on the head with his good hand. "I forgot to mention. The miko who was searching for the shards… That was Kagome-sama."
"What?" asked Mr. and Mrs. Hayashi in unison.
"She came from this time to the past to complete the Shikon no Tama," Miroku explained. "She was dragged back in time by a youkai through a well, and ended up breaking the Shikon no Tama, which was why she was trying to complete it again."
"Whoa, whoa," said Mr. Hayashi, rubbing his temples. "Are you saying a girl went back in time?"
"Yes," Miroku said, slightly annoyed that Mr. Hayashi didn't quite believe him.
"Tell me, Miroku," Mrs. Hayashi said, for once dropping the "-chan." She looked so sad. "Did everyone, except the miko, die?" He was surprised that she would ask such a thing.
"Yes," Miroku said, stating the obvious, "If I didn't die, then how would I be here now?"
"No, I mean, not die of old age," Mrs. Hayashi said, looking away from him. "Die in a battle."
"Yes…" Miroku said, not sure what she was trying to say.
"So that's what happened," she said in a low voice. Her husband walked up next to her and held her. "That's how my darling Inuyasha died."
Miroku was startled by her words. "Darling Inuyasha?" What did she mean? Wasn't her Inuyasha currently upstairs sleeping? Unless…
"I have my own confession to make," Mrs. Hayashi said, looking at Miroku once again.
"We both do," Mr. Hayashi said. It was Miroku's turn to be confused.
"I… I'm actually Inuyasha's mother," she said.
"Of course you are," Miroku said, not quite understanding her meaning.
"I mean, I was, I am Inuyasha's mother," she said, trying to get the boy before her to understand. "I was the human part of the hanyou that you spoke of. I was the mother of the Inuyasha that your past self knew."
"Huh?" was all Miroku was able to get out. She was Inuyasha's mother? She was Inuyasha's mother's reincarnation?
"You're probably wondering how I knew that the hanyou you were talking about was Inuyasha," she said, sitting down in a nearby chair. "I was always afraid that Inuyasha would hate himself because of his heritage, and I never really got a chance to teach him how to love himself." She rubbed her face in exhaustion. "I… I suspected that he would go after the Shikon no Tama. There were few back then that didn't know of the jewel's power, and I knew that he would one day seek it. I tried to prevent it from happening by shielding him from the hatred of the world, but… I failed. He was never able to accept himself, was he? That's why he sought the jewel. That's how he was killed."
"Hayashi-san," Miroku started, unsure of how to comfort her. She was starting to cry.
"It's my fault that he was killed," she sobbed, her husband holding her shoulders, trying to comfort her. "I wasn't there for my son when he needed me the most. I'm a failure as a mother. All I ever did was watch him suffer while I stood by as a ghost. I saw him suffering as he grew up, and I could never do a thing except watch in silence."
"Tamako…" her husband said, smoothing her hair and hugging her tightly. "It's all right. You did what you could."
"Oh really?" she asked, angry. "What about Sesshoumaru? I couldn't do a thing for him either. I failed both my sons."
"What?" asked Miroku, shocked. "Sesshoumaru is your son?"
"I suppose I forgot to tell you," Mrs. Hayashi said, wiping the tears away from her eyes. "I not only remember one of my past lives, but two. I remember the time when I was a dog demon and met with my husband. We had Sesshoumaru, and I was so happy, but then I just had to get myself killed by a stupid youkai when Sesshoumaru was but a pup. Great mother I am. First I fail my first son by getting myself killed, and then when I finally met up with my husband again and had our second child, I get killed by some stupid illness and end up leaving my poor baby alone in the world again!"
"It wasn't really your fault," Mr. Hayashi said.
"Oh yeah?" snorted Mrs. Hayashi. "What do you know? You only died once!"
"Wait a minute," interrupted Miroku. "You're the reincarnation of Sesshoumaru's mother also?"
"Of course," said Mrs. Hayashi as if that were the most obvious thing in the world. "How else do you think my husband and I were able to fall in love so quickly? I was only a human, after all, and winning Mr. Lord of the Western Lands' heart isn't exactly a piece of cake, you know. I had to have some sort of advantage."
"Hold on," said Miroku, his head spinning. "From the way you keep saying things, are you saying that your current husband is the exact same husband you had for two of your previous lives?"
"Of course I'm the one she's talking about," Mr. Hayashi said indignantly. "I would never allow another man to touch her!"
"Don't be so possessive, dear," Mrs. Hayashi said playfully, poking him in the ribs. "You know that I could never fall in love with anyone else except you." Then they started flirting with each other, which really disturbed Miroku, even if he was a lecherous monk.
"Ahem," Miroku interrupted, feeling a need to break them up. "Does Inuyasha, I mean the current Inuyasha, and Sesshoumaru know about this?"
"Oh, of course Inuyasha doesn't know," Mrs. Hayashi said.
"But Sesshoumaru knows," Mr. Hayashi continued for his wife. "We told him when Musashino was born."
"And how does he feel about all of this," Miroku muttered under his breath. If it were he, his head would be spinning after he heard this couples' tale.
"Actually, he took it quite well," Mrs. Hayashi said. "That's my Sesshoumaru!"
"How would you know if he took it well or not?" asked Mr. Hayashi. "The boy never lets an emotion slip out of his mask, except when dealing with the kids."
"Oh, come now, don't you think I know my own son?" demanded Mrs. Hayashi.
"How should I know? You died when he was just a pup. You said so yourself!"
"Oh, now that's just low," growled Mrs. Hayashi. "How about you? You didn't exactly care for him very well after I left!"
"That's because I was heartbroken until I met you again," huffed Mr. Hayashi indignantly.
"Oh, so that excuses you from any responsibilities you had, eh?" asked Mrs. Hayashi scathingly.
"Oi! That's not fair!" said Mr. Hayashi.
"And then you just had to run off and die, didn't you?" stated Mrs. Hayashi, turning away from her husband. "Leave your poor family alone in the cold, hard world without a care. What kind of man are you?"
"The kind of man that you love," said Mr. Hayashi, trying to get his wife's good humor back.
"Why am I so stupid to fall in love with you in every life?" asked Mrs. Hayashi to no one in particular. "Honestly. It must be a curse."
"Oi!"
"Excuse me," Miroku said, feeling very out of place in the conversation. "But, is this going to lead to anywhere?"
"Ah yes. I forgot all about you, dear," Mrs. Hayashi said, looking embarrassed. "So what do you plan on doing?"
"I was hoping you could enlighten me," Miroku said, but at this point, he highly doubted that was going to happen.
"This is a hard situation," Mr. Hayashi said. "By youkai law, we aren't allowed to go and kick Naraku's ass like we could back in the good old days."
"Yes, there's a law that forbids a youkai attacking another youkai in a youkai's home, and don't say bad words, dear," Mrs. Hayashi said.
"In order to kill someone nowadays, we need to register for a permit, and really, those permits take near a thousand years to process, and if I'm not mistaken, you'll be dead before the permit is given to us," Mr. Hayashi said.
"You said that youkai can't attack another youkai in a youkai's house," Miroku said, a thought dawning on him. "What if I attacked him outside of someone's house? Like in a forest, perhaps?"
"Good idea, but Naraku's not an idiot to go out walking in the forest for no good reason," Mr. Hayashi said.
"But I can attack him there, right?" asked Miroku.
"Of course! Even I can join you and attack him there, as long as the forest doesn't belong to any youkai," Mr. Hayashi said.
"Then all I have to do is kill him in the forest," Miroku said to himself.
"Impossible," Mrs. Hayashi said, dousing their hopes. "You're not powerful enough to take on Naraku."
"What are you talking about, woman?" demanded Mr. Hayashi. "I'll have you know I used to be Lord of the Western Lands!"
"Key word: 'used to be,'" Mrs. Hayashi said unsympathetically. "Right now you're just a sword youkai."
"That's right!" Mr. Hayashi said, getting excited all of a sudden. "I'll ask Toutousai to make me a powerful sword to defeat that damn Naraku!"
"You should say your great uncle. Be respectful," Mrs. Hayashi said. "And don't use dirty words."
"Don't be such a nag," Mr. Hayashi said.
"Who says I'm a nag?" demanded Mrs. Hayashi loudly. Then they promptly began bickering again. Miroku decided to leave. The couple weren't really helping him that much.
"I'm leaving right now, okay?" he said, hoping they wouldn't notice him, therefore allowing him to leave. He didn't have such luck.
"You can't go tonight!" Mrs. Hayashi said, turning to him. "What'll your parents say when they see you all bloody and that hole in your hand? You're staying right here tonight. I'll get you some of Inuyasha's clothes; they should fit you. You can sleep in the guest room as usual. I'll call your parents."
"It's 'Musashino,' not 'Inuyasha,'" Mr. Hayashi said to his wife. "How many times do I have to tell you that its probably bad luck to name your sons the same name?"
"I know my sons better than you do, and I can tell that Inuyasha has Inuyasha's soul!" she shouted at her husband. Miroku was getting confused by all this 'past Inuyasha' and 'present Inuyasha' thing.
"How can you tell that he has the same soul?" shouted Mr. Hayashi back.
"Mother's intuition," she said smugly.
"You better quit while you're ahead," Miroku advised Mr. Hayashi, but he wasn't listening.
"What if Inuyasha dies the same death as his past life, just because you named him 'Inuyasha' again?" asked Mr. Hayashi.
"Ha! You called him 'Inuyasha,' not 'Musashino,'" Mrs. Hayashi said in triumph.
"Damn!" cussed Mr. Hayashi.
"That's it, I'm washing your mouth," Mrs. Hayashi said, dragging her husband to the bathroom. "Miroku-chan, take a quick shower upstairs and get some of Inuyasha's clothes. He won't mind."
Miroku obediently headed upstairs as he heard some banging and cussing and gurgling coming from the bathroom downstairs. He was glad he hadn't made the mistake of using "bad words" in front of Mrs. Hayashi. That woman was scary.
Author's Note: A lighter chapter to balance the dark chapter before.
Hikaru means light, and Tamako is jewel or jade, or something.