Complete the Circle
Chapter Twenty-Six: Inuyasha, Remember!
The raven black hair around the wooden puppet snapped, and the puppet broke in two, the spell broken.
"Looks like your little plan failed," a woman said, smirking at her master's irritation.
"It seems that I've underestimated his power," he said smoothly. "It would seem that hair is not enough to control him. Perhaps we should move to something more…bloody."
"And less hairy, right?" the woman said, laughing at her own joke. "So, what do you want to do now?"
"Get his blood," he commanded her.
"And what do I get in return?" she asked.
"You get to have your arm back," he said coldly.
"Hey! I thought you said the payment for this errand was the arm!" she said angrily.
"The payment for this errand is your life," he hissed. "You have already failed me once when you neglected to kill the miko. Do you want me to return you to your prison?"
She was silent. He smiled slightly. She started to head for the door.
"Remember," he started. She stopped in her tracks. "Try not to kill him."
"Or it'll be at the cost of my own life, right?" she asked sarcastically. He just smirked in reply.
Sango waited as Miroku caught up with her, panting for air. She waited patiently for him to catch his breath.
"So, you're out of the hospital?" he asked, walking alongside her.
"Yeah. Told you those herbs that Hayashi-sensei gave me worked," she said in reply. She saw Miroku's face darken with the mention of that name. "What's wrong?"
"It seems that Inuyasha almost killed Hayashi-sensei yesterday, as well as his little sister and Sesshoumaru," he said in a low voice so the people around them couldn't hear. Sango thought that she had heard wrong.
"What?" she asked, confused.
"You were right," Miroku said. "We shouldn't wait to tell Inuyasha about the past."
Sango was about to question him further when he made a silencing gesture to her for Inuyasha and Kagome were coming.
"I'll tell you later," he mouthed. "Good morning, Inuyasha, Kagome," he said pleasantly.
"Good morning," Kagome said cheerfully. Inuyasha just grumbled in reply.
Sango waited patiently for Miroku to somehow get rid of Inuyasha during lunch so that he could tell her and Kagome privately what had happened yesterday. Finally, after much convincing, Miroku was able to arrive at the table by himself, whereas Inuyasha exited the cafeteria.
"Where is he going?" asked Kagome as Miroku sat down.
"He's going to use the phone to reserve a camping space for us this Saturday," Miroku said, starting on his lunch.
"What? Camping?" questioned Sango, not remembering if they had discussed anything about camping.
"Yep. I just told him that we should all have a camping trip to relax after the test tomorrow, and so that we can know each other better," Miroku answered.
"Oh no! I forgot all about the test," said Kagome.
"That's the least of our worries," said Miroku. In a lower voice he said, "Yesterday, Inuyasha attacked Rin, Sesshoumaru, and his grandfather by sucking their youki."
"Huh? He can do that?" asked Sango.
"I forgot to tell you," Kagome said, "When Inuyasha was just a kid, he lost all his youki by sucking up his youki. He was sick, so his parents and his grandfather tried to heal him with their youki, except their youki was consumed, too."
"Why?" asked Sango, having never heard of such a thing in all the years that she had been a youkai exterminator.
"We have yet to discover why," Miroku answered. "The important thing is that he can suck youki, and yesterday, something… Okay, this is my opinion," Miroku said, putting his lunch down. "I think that something possessed him and caused him to attack his family members."
"Does this have something to do with Naraku?" asked Kagome timidly.
"Most likely," Sango said, the old hatred in her eyes.
"It doesn't matter if it's Naraku or not," Miroku said in a firm tone. "Inuyasha is in danger, so I think that we now have no choice but to allow him the chance to remember the past." The trio became silent with the decision. They had finally agreed to try to get Inuyasha to remember, but how were they going to do it?
"There's one other thing I forgot to mention the other day," Miroku said, getting the two girls' attention. "You both know that Inuyasha was in a coma until recently, right?" They both nodded, a bit unsure. "You want to know how he got into a coma?" he asked, waiting for the girls' curiosity to snag them.
"All right, Miroku, how?" asked Sango exasperatedly when he didn't immediately start speaking. He smiled pleasantly at her.
"Okay. Inuyasha and I had just exited out of this shop at night. My grandfather had wanted something that could be only found in that store, which was why we were there, but that's not the point. When we were crossing the street, I saw Inuyasha start to stagger a bit. I thought he was pretending to be drunk or something, but then he just suddenly collapsed on the ground," Miroku said. "And that's how he got his coma."
"So?" the two girls asked a few seconds later.
"So…something came out of him when he collapsed," Miroku said. He could tell that he got their attention again. "Something that, to me, looked suspiciously like a soul."
"What are you trying to say?" asked Kagome slowly.
"His soul came out that night for a reason," Miroku said. "And after his soul returned, Inuyasha's aura changed again. You know he is devoid of youki, right? Well after he woke up, he was even more empty than usual. And guess what?" Miroku continued. "Right after he woke up, he couldn't quite remember some specific things."
"So he had temporary amnesia," Sango said.
"This 'amnesia' would seem to be very specific in who it chose for him to forget," Miroku said dryly. "After thinking about it for some time, I found a pattern in who Inuyasha forgot."
"And?" asked Kagome, wondering what this was supposed to lead to.
"And it would seem that he forgot anyone who had any resemblance to the people he had met in the Sengoku Jidai," Miroku said, his face serious. "His parents, who are actually the reincarnation of his original parents, his sister, who was the little girl that followed Sesshoumaru around, Sesshoumaru, whom I don't need to explain, and you, Kagome."
"Huh? Me?" asked Kagome, confused.
"When we were walking home after the mall, he told me that he should have remembered you from kindergarten, but didn't," Miroku said. "And the other thing he told me was that when he first woke up, the first thing he remembered was a… What did he say? A 'shining orb' or a 'jewel' or something."
"Are you saying that he saw the Shikon no Tama while he was in a coma?" asked Sango, surprised.
"If he is Inuyasha's reincarnation, then it is very likely that what he saw was the Shikon no Tama," Miroku said. "What I don't understand is why. Why would he see the Shikon no Tama?"
"Because he wants it?" asked Sango.
"I don't think that's the only reason, if he had wanted it at all…" said Miroku. He noticed that Kagome was starting to look pale. "What's wrong?"
"You… Inuyasha fell into his coma around six months ago, right?" asked Kagome, her eyes serious and locked on Miroku's.
"Yes…"
"And near six months ago, I fell into the well into the Sengoku Jidai," continued Kagome. He was beginning to understand. "I was chased by a centipede who was trying to kill me for the Shikon no Tama in me."
"And you wanted someone to save you, right?" Miroku said slowly, piecing the information together.
"Since the Shikon no Tama was in you, then it might have granted your wish?" asked Sango, catching on.
"You said that Inuyasha fell down in the middle of the street for no apparent reason at night, right?" asked Kagome, getting a confirming nod from Miroku. "It was at night that I was being chased by the centipede. And it was at night that Inuyasha re-awoken."
"Are you saying that the Shikon no Tama granted your wish to be saved by plucking Inuyasha's soul out from this time and putting it back into his body in the Sengoku Jidai?" questioned Sango. Kagome nodded.
"That means that the jewel was actually powerful enough to bring the dead back to life," Miroku mumbled under his breath.
"What do you mean? Inuyasha wasn't dead…was he?" asked Kagome, no longer certain.
"Kikyo's arrow was supposed to have sealed him for eternity, yet you were able to break the seal after he woke up," Miroku said, his elbows on the table, propping his head up. "He probably really did die after Kikyo sealed him, and was reincarnated into this time, but then you brought him back to life, so it would seem that Kikyo's arrow was faulty, but actually it wasn't."
"So because Kagome-chan brought him back to life in the past, his present self had to lose his soul?" asked Sango, awaiting Miroku's confirmation.
"I think that's how it goes," he replied. The group stopped talking for Inuyasha soon arrived.
"We're going camping on Saturday," he announced, taking his lunch out. He didn't exactly sound excited.
"Inuyasha, err, I mean, Musashino," Kagome started, smiling nervously. "Would you mind coming to my house today?"
"Another tutoring session?" asked Inuyasha.
"Umm, yeah," said Kagome brightly.
"Sure," Inuyasha replied nonchalantly. Kagome thought that he was rather laid back for someone who just got possessed yesterday.
"Okay, so let's get started," Inuyasha said once the group arrived at Kagome's house.
"Actually… We're not here to study or get tutored," Miroku said. Inuyasha looked at him in confusion. "We're here to discuss some things with you."
"Like what?" Inuyasha asked, wondering what was wrong with them.
"Please take a seat," Kagome said, directing him to the living room. He sat down, looking at them in confusion.
"We're going to tell you something so please don't interrupt," Sango said. Inuyasha nodded his understanding and soon the three told him everything that they knew or had recently discovered. The sun had set by the time they were finished. Inuyasha had not interrupted once, which was unusual of him.
"Do you understand, Inuyasha?" asked Kagome, wondering if Inuyasha had really been listening to them the whole time or had he zoned out.
"Perfectly," Inuyasha replied. "Kikyo kills my past self because she thinks I betrayed her. I get sealed, but then I'm unsealed because of you and the Shikon no Tama. Shippou joins because his parents died. Miroku joins because of his air rip thingy and he wants to defeat Naraku to get himself 'uncursed.' Sango joins because Naraku killed her entire village and is using her brother as a puppet against her. Naraku wants the Shikon no Tama because he's a hanyou and wants to turn into a full youkai, just like my past self. There. Easy," he finished. They just looked at him in silence. He really had been listening.
"Ahem, well anyway, that's why you have to join us and hurry up and remember your past so that you can help us defeat Naraku," Miroku said.
"You mean, Naraku-sama," Inuyasha said, chiding Miroku for his lack of manners. Kagome, Sango, and Shippou, who had arrived somewhere in the middle of the conversation just looked at him funny.
"The point is, you have to remember your past now," Miroku said, slightly annoyed. "The sooner the better."
"Okay, and how do I do that?" asked Inuyasha. "How did you guys remember?"
"I… I remembered when Kagome-chan and I were being attacked by a snake youkai and your grandfather came and rescued us," Sango said.
"Ojii-chan rescued you?" asked Inuyasha, impressed.
"Yeah…"
"I remembered as soon as I got my air rip," Miroku said in a quiet voice. Kagome and Sango looked at him sympathetically.
"So it seems that whenever you guys are in danger, you remember," Inuyasha said, oblivious to Miroku's feelings. "So all I have to do is wait for a disaster to happen."
"What?!" they all shouted at him.
"That's what we're trying to prevent by telling you all this," Miroku said, angry that Inuyasha was being so dense.
"What do you want me to do?" demanded Inuyasha. "Find a spell that says 'how to remember past lives?'"
"That might work," Kagome said jokingly.
"But Inuyasha's right," Sango said. "We've just told him about everything that happened in his past, even the sad childhood and hating Sesshoumaru part, and he still doesn't remember."
"Maybe if we tried pictures?" suggested Shippou. They all turned to look at him.
"What do you mean?" asked Kagome.
"I mean this," Shippou said, transforming himself into a hanyou Inuyasha. He then changed himself to look like Inuyasha when he was a human. He then transformed himself to look like Kikyo.
"Hey, she's hot," Inuyasha joked, getting glares from Kagome. He laughed nervously.
"Aren't you remembering anything?" asked Sango.
"Nope."
"It might just be a small thing that you didn't know before," Miroku said.
"Nope. Everything's the same," said Inuyasha. "Does anyone have any food?" All he got were a bunch of angry people. "Okaay… Never mind, then."
"Try to make an effort!" pleaded Sango.
"What? How do I make an effort? Do I knock myself on the head in hopes that I will remember?" asked Inuyasha, grinning.
"You're not taking this seriously!" said Shippou, angry that Inuyasha was kidding around.
"I'll knock your head a few times if you don't start helping," Miroku said, his eyes closed in annoyance.
"It's easy for you to talk since you already remember," Inuyasha said, still in good humor.
"Argh!" Miroku groaned, plopping himself in a chair. "It's hopeless."
"Don't be so pessimistic," said Inuyasha, yawning.
"How can you not be worried with all that we've told you?" asked Kagome.
"I'm worried," Inuyasha said, trying to reassure her, but not really sounding worried.
"Humph!" Kagome sat down in annoyance. "Sure, that sounds really worried to me."
"I just have a different way of dealing with things than you do, so just chill out," said Inuyasha, stretching himself out.
"Oh? And what's that?" asked Kagome sarcastically.
"Just be happy."
"What?" the others asked, disbelievingly.
"C'mon. Be happy," Inuyasha said, getting slightly annoyed with how dense everyone was. "It's better to act happy when something bad is going to happen than to get all weepy or grumpy."
"You're one to talk, Mr. Grumpy," Shippou muttered.
"Don't get me confused with the other Inuyasha," Inuyasha said. "Well, if that's all, then I'm going home. Any objections?"
"I'm going home, too," Miroku said.
"Me too," Sango added, getting up.
"Well then, thank you, Kagome, for your hospitality," Inuyasha said, bowing.
"When did you get so polite?" asked Kagome in surprise.
"Since my mom beat up my dad for being rude and threatened me with the same punishment," Inuyasha replied. "See ya tomorrow then! Good luck studying!"
Kagome was reminded of the test tomorrow and quickly ran up the stairs to her room to study.
Author's Note: Next chapter is already in the works, so I might be able to update tomorrow, even if school is starting. Yay! Title for the next chapter is: "Arrows of Love."