Author's Note: Heh heh heh… Got most of you confused. Yes, my job is done.
Complete the Circle
Chapter Forty-Four: The Number of Death
She looked at him, surprised that he would have done such a thing. What did it mean? Did he want to destroy the Shikon no Tama by absorbing it into his system? Is that why he swallowed it?
"Inuyasha…?" she asked, looking at him. He had a foreign expression on his face.
"Why did you…?" asked Sango, not finishing her sentence. Kagome felt a terrible amount of youki surrounding her. But it wasn't just around her; the youki seemed to be filling every possible crack and recess there was in the world.
Suddenly, miasma appeared from seemingly nowhere, and Kagome saw herself and her friends become engulfed in its poisonous cloud. She tried to run out of the miasma, but the toxin seemed endless in the space that it occupied.
"Inuyasha," she coughed, falling to the ground. "Help me…" She felt someone pulling her arm, and a moment later, she was lifted up and away from the cloud of poison.
"Inuyasha?" she asked weakly, and lost consciousness.
"Keeper of the Jewel… Hear my plea once more. Purge this world from the cursed jewel, and defeat the darkness that has swallowed this world."
Kagome looked around her and saw that she was in that same field of grass as before. But this time, there was no one there. The grass did not move and the wind did not blow. She looked at the sky and saw that it was gray with storm clouds, but the clouds were not moving either.
"Time shall freeze in this stage if you do not aid us… Find the last three souls and bring them here…"
Kagome looked around for the source of the voice, but found none. Suddenly, she saw a woman next to her, but she couldn't see her face clearly, even though they were so close.
"W-Who are you?" she stuttered, unsure if the woman before her was a friend or a foe.
"You shall discover that soon enough," she said in a soft voice that was laced with the experience of knowing many battles. "It is not yet safe for me to tell you my identity, but rest assured, child. You will know as soon as you arrive here…"
"Why can't you just tell me now?" asked Kagome impatiently. She didn't like how this woman was being so mysterious.
"The evil has entered this realm. No one who is not on my side may utter my name," she said, her voice devoid of emotion. "Please find your path here quickly. If you fail, then this world shall fall into darkness for I no longer have the power to fend off so great an evil."
"Wait!" Kagome shouted, but the woman disappeared from the field, and soon the young green grass that had covered the field turned brown with decay as the sky became filled with darkness. Kagome felt an ominous force approach from the side of darkness and felt a familiar presence emerge from the demons of shadows.
"Naraku!" she gasped as she awoke. She looked around her and noticed that she was in a dark room. She peered through the darkness, trying to figure out where she was when the door opened suddenly, and a weak light filled the room from a lone candle.
"You're awake. That's good," a familiar voice said.
"Aki?" she asked in surprise. The girl sure sounded like that youkai.
"What?" asked the girl gruffly as she moved closer and lit another candle that was next to Kagome's bed. The room was filled with slightly more light. "That's better. I hate the dark. Reminds me of that asshole…"
"What are you doing here?" asked Kagome, surprised that the youkai wasn't attacking her.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" she said, her maroon eyes glowing slightly in the dark as she looked outside the window as a predator does to a prey.
"I don't understand," said Kagome as she too looked outside the window, only to find more darkness.
"I cured you all from Naraku's miasma," she said simply. "Let's go. The others are waiting in the training room." She walked out of the room, not waiting for Kagome. Kagome quickly took the candle by her bedside and followed this mysterious youkai. Why did she help us? she thought, I thought that she was our enemy.
They entered a room that was lit by dim candles, and Kagome noticed that both her and Sango's family were all there.
"Kagome," her mother said, sounding relieved. "I'm glad you're all right."
"Please, sit down," Mr. Hayashi said, sounding immensely tired. Kagome sat between her mother and Sango, trying not to look too suspiciously at Aki.
"Now that all of us are here, do you care to explain what happened, Aki?" Mr. Hayashi said. Kagome looked at the old man and wondered why he was willing to trust this person who would not have hesitated to kill his grandson.
"What is there to explain?" she asked, not bothering to sit down. "Your people fought Naraku, and they lost."
"What do you mean we lost?" Miroku asked angrily. "Kagome hit Naraku with her arrow. Nothing remains of him."
"That's what you think," she said, shaking her head as if she were talking to children. "You didn't destroy Naraku at all."
"Then what happened?" asked Sango impatiently. "And where's Inuyasha?"
"What do you think happened?" asked Aki, equally impatient. "You failed to kill Naraku, and now Inuyasha is dead."
"What do you mean he's dead?" asked Kagome anxiously. She saw Kirara's ear twitch at the pitch of her voice.
"Humans really are stupid," she said, rubbing her forehead as if she was having a headache.
"If we're so stupid, then why did you help us?" asked Miroku, anger and irritation getting the best of him.
"Use your head for once," she said. "I betrayed Naraku when I left the battle. Do you think he will leave me unscathed once he takes over this world?"
"But I shot Naraku," Kagome said, her voice shaking with uncertainty. Had she really destroyed Naraku?
"How many times do I have to tell you?" Aki all but shouted. "The one you shot was Inuyasha, not Naraku."
"What?" they all asked.
"You never said that," Shippou said, not quite sure if he should believe her words.
"I told you Naraku isn't dead yet," she said, sighing at their confusion. "He probably switched minds with Inuyasha at the last minute so that their bodies exchanged souls. The body that you killed was Naraku's, but the soul that you destroyed was most likely Inuyasha's."
"But that's impossible," Miroku said, already starting to believe this former enemy of his.
"Naraku used this trick on you once, remember?" she asked, sounding slightly less impatient. "With that idiotic electric eel? Do you remember if that youkai seemed to change during the battle?"
Kagome remembered how the youkai's face had suddenly changed during the last few minutes of the battle. The way he had smiled… I thought that it looked familiar, she thought.
"Naraku has also done the same thing to me once," Aki said in a softer voice that was laced with anger.
"So…" Miroku said, afraid to finish his sentence.
"I killed Inuyasha," Kagome said quietly. I killed him. Even when he had said, "wait." But how was I to know? How was I supposed to know that it was Inuyasha? she thought angrily. But I really did kill him, didn't I? And to think that I had promised myself that I would do anything to protect him, even give my life for him, only to kill him in the end. What irony this is.
She looked outside a nearby window as the entire room quieted down, afraid to disturb her. I destroyed the one I love. She felt a bitter smile tug at her lips. I really am Kikyo. I really am like my incarnation.
"Kagome-chan, are you all right?" asked Sango cautiously.
"Of course I am," she said, turning back to the people in the room. She smiled. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"Kagome, you can't blame yourself," Miroku said, trying to comfort her. "You didn't know."
"I know," she said, her false serenity becoming irritation. "I know I couldn't have stopped it. I know that there was nothing that could've been done to prevent it."
"Good… Good, then," Miroku said, not quite sure what to say next.
"Aki, you told us earlier that you carried us here and healed us because you want us to go against Naraku, right?" asked Sango, trying to change the subject.
"Basically, yeah," said the sea star youkai.
"So that means that Naraku is still somewhere near, right?" asked Sango.
"I don't know if you can say that, but yeah," said Aki. Everyone looked at her, wondering what she meant. "Look, Naraku wanted the Shikon no Tama so that it would make taking over this world that much easier. And he wanted to accomplish this by poisoning the jewel with his evil."
"But Inu—I mean, Naraku ate the jewel," said Miroku. "Is his stomach acid so poisonous that he can corrupt the jewel that way?"
"That doesn't make sense because it's Inuyasha's body, not his," said Sango, glancing nervously at Kagome.
"He's going in the jewel," Aki said suddenly. "It's the only way."
"What?" asked Sango. "What do you mean?"
"If he pollutes the jewel from the inside, it will be difficult for an outside force like the miko to purify it," she said. "He ate the jewel because by doing so, he is given the chance to enter the realm of the Shikon no Tama."
"What?" Miroku and Sango asked, dumbfounded.
"Please explain yourself," Mr. Hayashi said.
"When you have the complete Shikon no Tama, you have several choices," she started. "One is to make a wish. A pure wish destroys the jewel, but an evil one allows it to survive. Another choice is to swallow it so that you absorb the jewel's power. If the absorption is successful, then the jewel will be gone. The last choice is one that not many people know about because, frankly, they just don't care. The last one is to swallow the jewel, but instead of absorbing its power, you become part of the jewel so that you have the option to enter the Shikon no Tama.
"I'm sure you people know of the jewel's origin," Aki continued. "And that the jewel was created from a woman's heart. When you become part of the jewel, it's like entering your own heart. That's why Naraku swallowed the jewel. So that he could enter the Shikon no Tama, wipe out all the good forces there, fill it with his evil, which would reflect on this world, and then he would be the ruler of all creatures."
"So all this darkness and youki that's flowing around…" Sango said.
"That would be a reflection of what's happening inside the Shikon no Tama," Aki completed for her. Everyone fell silent, thinking on this new fact.
Suddenly, Kagome spoke, "How do we get there?"
"I don't know," Aki replied, "But I know there is a way."
"And just how do you know that?" asked Miroku.
"The person who created the jewel did it by doing something with four souls, right?" asked Aki. Kagome remembered her dream, and how that woman asked her to bring three other souls to her. "Well, if we could just find this four soul thing, then maybe we can enter that Shikon no Tama."
"The fortuneteller!" Sango said suddenly. She pulled out a chain around her neck and revealed a small rectangular block with four different colored flowers in it. "She gave me this! She said that when the time came, I would know what do to with it."
"The fortuneteller?" asked Kagome skeptically. The fortuneteller had not helped her at all. Why hadn't she predicted what she was going to do to her friend?
"The illusion of your enemy may turn out to be your greatest friend." Why hadn't she remembered? The illusion of my enemy… That would be Naraku, or should I say, Inuyasha? He looked like Naraku, but he was Inuyasha…
"Everything the fortuneteller told me is coming true!" she said. "She said that Miroku was going to be in danger, but I wasn't going to be able to save him. And guess what? I didn't save him! Shippou did!"
Kagome looked at her friend, slightly afraid. It was true. Everything that the fortuneteller had told her had somehow come true.
"Then she said that there would be a battle, but that we would lose it," Sango said. "That came true too!"
"She told me that something was supposed to help us," Kagome said quietly, trying to remember the exact words that the fortuneteller had told her. "Something about a heart and a priestess, or a lady, or something."
"She told me something about a lady, too," Sango said, looking at her friend. "She told me to wait for the Lady of the Souls. And she told me that we had to win in the land of dreams."
"What's the land of dreams?" asked Miroku.
"It's her…" Kagome gasped, suddenly realizing what it all meant. "I've been having this dream," she said to her friends quickly. "This woman, she keeps on telling me to find three souls or something. And there was this battle between the dark and the light. And it looked like Kirara was there."
"Then you must've been dreaming of being inside the Shikon no Tama," Aki said. "You must have seen yourself fighting against Naraku in the dream."
"No…" said Kagome, remembering how she could not see any of the people's faces in the dream.
"Three souls?" asked Miroku. "You mean four."
"Maybe," Kagome said, remembering how Inuyasha was gone. But the Shikon no Tama did have something to do with the number four. But what was it that the lady had said? Something about the Last Soul?
"Look at this!" Sango said, taking the strange pendant off her necklace and showing them. "There are four small flowers intertwined in it. The fortuneteller had also said that my destiny was hard to read because of how closely knit my fate was to three others."
"Is this some sort of key?" asked Miroku, looking at it closely.
"It is composed of the four flowers that bloomed together on the land where all four of you were destroyed," an old, familiar voice said.
"Myouga-jii-chan?!" asked Kagome in surprise.
"Yes," he said, wiping the sweat off his brow. "It was very difficult to come here," he said breathing hard.
"Why didn't you come here earlier?" asked Sango, wondering if it really took the flea five hundred or so years to come to the Hayashi residence.
"Ah… That is, never mind," the flea said quickly. "Anyway, those four flowers symbolize your four souls," he said. "By the way, where is Inuyasha-sama?"
The people in the room fell silent. Kagome looked away, wondering how Inuyasha would have felt about everything that was unraveling before their eyes had he been alive.
"Inu-nii-chan is dead," Souta said.
"It's your bedtime," Mrs. Higurashi said suddenly, guiding the child out of the room. "Good luck, Kagome," she said. She looked like she wanted to say more, but restrained herself and left the room. She was followed by Sango's family.
"I'm not sure what's going on, but you better return safely," said Mrs. Yamata, kissing her daughter on the forehead. "Come, Kohaku," she said, also taking the child out. Things were going to get more serious than the children could probably handle soon.
"So, he's already gone…" the flea said, looking worried. "How is everything going to work if he's not here?"
"What do you mean?" asked Sango.
"You three, along with Inuyasha are the four souls that are to enter the Shikon no Tama because of what you represent," Myouga said. "How are you to defeat Naraku if not all of you are present?"
"Hurry up," Aki said suddenly.
"Why?" asked Miroku, still not trusting the youkai fully.
"I have this strange feeling that Naraku's about to say 'checkmate' pretty soon," she said. "I'm outta here," she said, getting up. "Whatever you choose is your decision. I'm not going to stick around if you fail." She walked out of the room quickly, disappearing into the darkness.
Kirara nudged her head against Sango's pendant. Sango looked at Kirara, confused, but gave the pendant to the cat. Kirara carefully placed the four flowers on the ground and with one tiny, elegant claw, pierced through the surface of the sap-like jewel. Suddenly, a hole filled with light appeared in the middle of the room, right above the four flowers, that were each glowing with their own special light.
"What…?" asked Sango. Kirara quickly jumped in. "Kirara!" Sango called out, then followed her pet into the strange opening. Miroku went in after her.
"Be careful, Kagome," the tiny flea said.
"What about me?" asked Shippou feeling left out. He wasn't one of the four souls that were mentioned.
"Just guard this door until we come back, okay?" asked Kagome, trying her hardest to smile. Shippou nodded, feeling afraid.
"Find the Last Soul…"
Kagome jumped in, still wondering what the mysterious woman had meant.
She landed among her friends and a transformed Kirara. She looked around. Things were exactly as they were in her dream. The wind wasn't blowing, the grass wasn't moving, and the clouds had stopped in the sky. She suddenly heard a whisper of a sound as someone approached them.
"Kirara, my dear friend," the woman said as she petted the large cat fondly. She turned to look at the others, and smiled, though her smile seemed to be lined with years of hard battle.
"You're that lady," Kagome said, seeing her face clearly for the first time. Her face looked awfully familiar.
"Yes. I am the Lady of the Souls, Midoriko," she said, bowing slightly.
"Midoriko?" asked Sango, not quite surprised.
"I am glad that you have come to aid us," she said. "I was afraid that you would never come."
"You've been fighting Naraku all by yourself?" asked Miroku.
"Not by myself," she said. "There is one who aids me." She looked over them again and frowned.
"Where is the missing Soul?" she asked.
"Oh… He's…" said Sango, not quite sure how to say it.
"He's been killed," Kagome said bluntly.
"How can that be?" asked Midoriko, surprised. Then she sighed. "I should have paid more attention and called his soul here as soon as he was destroyed. I suppose that I can try to defeat the evil with just your help." She gestured with her hand. "Come," she said, Kirara walking next to her.
Kagome followed her, wondering why a powerful priestess like Midoriko would ever need anyone's help, especially the help of herself and her friends. They didn't even have enough power to defeat Naraku. How were they supposed to fight the evil in the Shikon no Tama?
"There are only four of you," Midoriko said suddenly. "One is missing."
Kagome tried to puzzle out what she was saying.
"This battle may not turn out well," she continued. "Four is the number of death. I know this well. I ended up trapped here because I had failed to realize this. I contended only with the four forces, and did not bother myself with the last." She turned to them again, her eyes sad. "You may not survive. Are you sure you wish to continue?"
"What will happen if we don't?" asked Miroku.
"I will continue to try my best to fight the forces of darkness," she said, looking at the gray sky. "I have the help of one now, and together, we can keep ourselves from getting annihilated long enough until the last soul is reborn."
"Will that be long?" asked Sango, the evil flowing around this realm giving her the creeps.
"It may or may not be long," she answered. "It depends on when that soul will be reborn."
"What if one of us dies before the soul is reborn?" asked Miroku.
"I will call your soul here so that we do not have to wait until all souls exist in the same time frame," she said. "Do you still wish to continue? It may mean your deaths," she said after a brief pause. "You are not yet dead, and so one death in this realm will be death in your world."
"What about you?" asked Kagome. "If we don't help you, won't you die as well?"
"They can kill me, but I will still be here," she said. "They must destroy me utterly to pull me out of this realm. It is different for me."
Kagome looked at the stormy sky and wondered if she was ready to die. Inuyasha… Where are you? Maybe she wanted to die? Maybe she wanted to die so that she could join him?
"What are we going to do, Kagome?" asked Miroku, looking at her carefully.
"I can't decide," she said, knowing that her actions were going to be shaded with Inuyasha's death.
"We're going to be entering a losing battle," Sango said, seeing an area of darkness some ways away. The wave of darkness seemed to be moving closer. She frowned. The darkness was moving closer.
"Midoriko-sama, they're attacking again!" someone shouted suddenly, appearing at the top of a hill. A beam of light from a crack in the storm clouds shrouded the person from view.
"With only four souls, we will surely lose," Midoriko said, readying herself for battle.
"Screw the old superstitions," the person said, jumping down next to Midoriko.
Kagome could only look at the person in surprise. How could he be here?
"You—You're…" she gasped, choking on her words. He grinned.
"Can't get rid of me that easily," he smiled. Kagome could only look at him in shock.
Her mind was made up. She would stay in this realm, no matter what.
Author's Note: Ugh… I hope this chapter clarified some things, but I could be wrong. I don't know, but my head is spinning from trying to get everything to make sense and making all the connections. I had to keep finding the different chapters where I mentioned certain things (what a bother).
Oh yeah, for those of you that don't know, four, in Chinese culture, means death. I think it has something to do with it sounding like the word death or something.
And Spectrum… … …
You very smart to have guessed right. ^_^